Legalization Presentation

[maybejusthappy]

Okay, I'm doing a presentation for Psych on why people do drugs despite the drug laws and how the laws dont work. Any sources I could use that you know of? And it's fine if they are very pro-pot. I mean, High Times is one of my sources so far and Cheech and Chong Up in Smoke is my visual aid! But anything you know of about the laws or wide acceptance of drugs among people would be awesome.

[TresBizzare420]

Check out wwe.norml.org

[element7]

I know this is an older thread but just for future reference there's a few posts right here in these very Cannabis Activism forums that have a great deal of links and info. Just take the time to look around.

[Snowman5000]

I did a presentation similar to this in myu english class. Research the drug wars, and how much money is spent just to fight marijuana, and that should make a pretty good point. Also some people use marijuana for enlightenment, and its over all just a blast.

[ZePpeLinA]

perhaps you should mention the film "traffic" (yeah the one with catherine zeta jones and M. douglas) in your presentation. if you havent seen it, well, its basically about how the war on drug is just a lot of BS....i think it's spot on for your presentation.

[jo_k_er_man]

like i mention every other time... fuck legalization.... decriminalization!... keep the power of the herb in the hands of the common man... not corperate america

[MikeE]

like i mention every other time... fuck legalization.... decriminalization!... keep the power of the herb in the hands of the common man... not corperate america

Let me guess what your thinking is:

"Currently, there is no legal herb so all of its growth and distribution is controled by the folk (us) rather than corprations.

If herb is decrim. or legalized, then there will be "corporate weed". People's weed may or may not be legal, but Corproate Weed will overcome the Poeple's weed just as Corprate Beer has overcome Homebrew."

Is that similar to what you are thinking about decrim.?

[element7]

In some respects I can see the whole decrim instead of complete legalization thing. But I still think you're giving far too much credit and power to the corporate body vs stoner culture, or maybe not. Perhaps stoner culture has simply degraded into complete consumer culture without a brain just like everything else. Is that the case or would we as a stoner body simply eye the big corporate face as completely suspect and tell em to fug off in favor of something similar to the microbrew culture? It's a thought worth pondering for sure and I'm not sure on the level of leisure.

Research into medicinal ends though would greatly benefit from complete legalization although there too you have the corporate drug company face. I'm sure that the big guns like pfukzer will somehow add a bunch of crap and turn it into a pill complete with superbowl ads.

.. and then there's the textile inustries, the oil industry, the rubber industry, ......

It's odd how the cannabis plant existed for a few thousand years to many ends as a commodity of various value until the corporate/mind lockdown happenned. Now here we are with a very perplexing situation and a whole lot of people in jail for simply enjoying themselves and harming no-one. Question, big question is how would you write a policy of decrim that would remove all those good folk from iron walls upon it's inception? It's a commodity that could inject our economy to great ends on a whole slew of levels. So really maybe we should ask, who's blocking this and why because common sense, even capitalist sense would dictate it be legal. If the corporate body were so gung ho for using it, don't you think we'd be faring better by now. They do rule the gov you know, so what's the catch? What's preventing them from using their capital influence unless they stand to lose by legalization?

Sorry for the long rant but maybe it's really time that some of the intelligentsia of stoner culture sat down at the table and brainstormed this as a community rather than segments.

I love my stoner sisters and brothers and I thank all of them for what I've learned in this life. I know I can be a loudmouthed arrogant dick at times but in the end I'm a nice guy. Feel free to pm me or get a forum started for this type of hashing out some real solutions. Kinda like those billboards that said "We need to talk, God" well "Stoners, we need to talk, Cannabis".

[jo_k_er_man]

I look at it as if marijuana was legalized it would be just like a cigarette industy... which do people buy more.... packs of cigarettes... or bags of tobacco? packs of course... another thing is... im sorry if maybe this may somehow sound greedy or selfish... but with legalization of marijuana,..... what would happen to the counter culture that surrounds marijuana??? there would be none.. since anyone would be able to smoke it... there are many laws that can be passed according to industy laws and medical laws and recreational laws... decriminalization would be great... so what if theres a fine... you wouldnt see a ticket unless you were smoking in public.. you could smoke in the privacy of your own house.... under decriminalization you can still have designated smoking places... look at northern californias humboldt county.... its decriminalized there and they have coffee shops.. you're limited to a number of plants and how much you may have on your property.. and its usually more than any ordinary smoker would need.... big deal if you get fined... wow a 20-50$ ticket.. big woop.. the government just needs to find better places to put this money that they'd get from drug offenders though.. like if they said that any fines for marijuana possession were to goto drug education or treatment... thats great.. because at least while we're getting fined in turn its helping out to get people more educated on the subject of drugs.... so this is why i feel decriminalization is best.....

[jo_k_er_man]

Let me guess what your thinking is:

"Currently, there is no legal herb so all of its growth and distribution is controled by the folk (us) rather than corprations.

If herb is decrim. or legalized, then there will be "corporate weed". People's weed may or may not be legal, but Corproate Weed will overcome the Poeple's weed just as Corprate Beer has overcome Homebrew."

Is that similar to what you are thinking about decrim.?if marijuana was only decriminalized for recreational use... no corperations would be able to sell marijuana.. ordinary folk(us) would be able to grow and have a certain amount on our person without prosecution.... let the government legalize for medical and industrial use, where it is a must that it is legalized.. let use keep it decriminalized for out personal use.. legalize for saving lifes and easier burning fuels, paper and whatever else that we as ordinary folks cant make ourselves.. theres a time and place for government.. and within our recreational lifes.... they can screw off and leave us alone

[MikeE]

I'm not sure what you mean by the difference between decrimilinilzing and legalizing.

[jo_k_er_man]

I'm not sure what you mean by the difference between decrimilinilzing and legalizing.
decriminalization = no jail time but may be fines.... like minnesota.... decriminalization is Possession Less than 42.5 g/ Sales Distribution of 42.5 g or less without remuneration... no incarceration.. nothing more than a minor traffic ticket

legalization = completely legal.. no forms of prosecution

[MikeE]

Ahh...your position becomes clear. Thanks.

[jo_k_er_man]

here.. dictionary terms if this is better for you


Main Entry: de·crim·i·nal·ize [/url]
Pronunciation: (")dE-'kri-m&-n&-"lIz, -'krim-n&l-
Function: transitive verb
: to remove or reduce the criminal classification or status of; especially : to repeal a strict ban on while keeping under some form of regulation <decriminalize the possession of marijuana>
- de·crim·i·nal·iza·tion (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?decrim01.wav=decriminalize')) /(")dE-"kri-m&-n&-l&-'zA-sh&n, -"krim-n&l-/ noun

Main Entry: le·gal·ize
Pronunciation: 'lE-g&-"lIz
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -ized; -iz·ing
: to make legal; especially : to give legal validity or sanction to
- le·gal·i·za·tion [url="javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?legali07.wav=legalization')"] (javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?legali06.wav=legalize')) /"lE-g&-l&-'zA-sh&n/ noun

[jo_k_er_man]

Ahh...your position becomes clear. Thanks.
so you understand now why decriminalization would work just as well as legalization? but without corperate america being able to grasp ahold of it if it were to be legalized?

[MikeE]

With decrim. weed would be illegal. Just a little bit, but still illegal. Therefore, no motive for corps. to grow, package and sell it. Thus the people would still control the marijuana culture.

With full legalization (plus/minus driving and minors) the corps would put out a product which would be cheaper, easier to get and more consistant than the People's Pot. Folks would choose to use the corporate product, just as your example of cigarettes or my example of beer. Corp. Grass would be the standard that is used AND the associated t-shirts, music tours, sports sponcerships would take cannibis culture from the people and put it alongside the rest of the MTV, Budwiser, NASCAR corporate controled popular culture that we have.

Is that your point?

[jo_k_er_man]

yes

[jo_k_er_man]

With decrim. weed would be illegal. Just a little bit, but still illegal. Therefore, no motive for corps. to grow, package and sell it. Thus the people would still control the marijuana culture.

With full legalization (plus/minus driving and minors) the corps would put out a product which would be cheaper, easier to get and more consistant than the People's Pot. Folks would choose to use the corporate product, just as your example of cigarettes or my example of beer. Corp. Grass would be the standard that is used AND the associated t-shirts, music tours, sports sponcerships would take cannibis culture from the people and put it alongside the rest of the MTV, Budwiser, NASCAR corporate controled popular culture that we have.

Is that your point?
good summary by the way.. i suck at summing things up

[element7]

I see your point jo_k_er_man but would this also maintain drug testing? As it would still be semi-illegal? The other thing is just to air the question again, if corporate america is so gung ho about taking over the weed industry why aren't they pushing for it as well? Not to be argumentative, really just to throw it out there. Or are they?

[MikeE]

Big buisness would take over the cannabis industry if it were legal. However, that doesn't mean that they want it legalized. Why should they bother?

[element7]

True why should they bother when they in fact do make quite a bit of money off of it being illegal in the first place. Cheap labor forces contained within four walls that can't go anywhere. Also, they, as described in another thread stand to get tax breaks and subsidies for drug testing of employees. In deccriminalization are we talking utilizing also as a medicine across the board, how's that handled in decrim? In decrim can little old ladies still be sent to jail for growing their own plants even though they have a legal prescription? It's not just a leisure plant per se.

The idea of the culture commodity market getting a grip on the herb makes me sick still though. It would be horrible.

[jo_k_er_man]

True why should they bother when they in fact do make quite a bit of money off of it being illegal in the first place. Cheap labor forces contained within four walls that can't go anywhere. Also, they, as described in another thread stand to get tax breaks and subsidies for drug testing of employees. In deccriminalization are we talking utilizing also as a medicine across the board, how's that handled in decrim? In decrim can little old ladies still be sent to jail for growing their own plants even though they have a legal prescription? It's not just a leisure plant per se.

The idea of the culture commodity market getting a grip on the herb makes me sick still though. It would be horrible.
decriminalization can be alot closer to legalization that you figure.... like i stated before in california... its legal to grow a certain amount of marijuana for medical use.. and i believe for personal use... its the matter of being in public while having marijuana on yoru person or consuming in public....

[MikeE]

In CA it is legal to grow for medical use (with a doctor's note) but not for personal recreational use.

jo k er man's argument about the preservation of the people's cannibis culture is flawed. The existance of corporate culture does not preclude the existance of an alternate non-corporate culture.

Take music as an example, there is MTV etc. AND there are small festivals across the country where musicians play for the people. There are people who never watch MTV and there are the masses who have never heard of Utah Phillips.

There is a non-corporate culture in this country. Cannabis is part of that culture. The legalization of grass will create a corporate pot culture (btw, is High Times mag. part of corporate culture or not?), but that culture will not affect the (I wish I knew a better term) counter culture.

Now that I think of it, part of any culture is the definition of "outlaws" and the expectations that we have of different kinds of outlaws. Most marijuana users are following the corporate culture in their use of pot. Look at how many threads there are about "I got ripped off, I'm going to beat up that dude." If we look at the posts in this forum, it doesn't look like cannabis creates a different culture.

My point is that you a part of the corporate culture to what ever extent you are. A change in the coporate culture from pot=outlaw to "Smoke High Sticks, they are the 4-20est of them all" will not change whether people opt in or out of the corporate world.

[FireezDragon]

I think the best source for a presentation would definatly be the Norml site. It has all the state law statuses and a section on the victims of the war on drugs